Unleasing the Manalishi - Losing my HD

I felt fine when 5:30 rolled around. I was glad it was Friday but also lurking in the back of my mind was the realization that I would be on-call. Somehow it’s just not the same when you know that you’ll need at least half your mind focused on work through the holiday weekend. But then again, it is what it is, I sucked it up and moved forward with my day. I was fairly warm, certainly not very wintry. After completing my usual rituals I took Mindy her coffee. She slept until 6:15am. Without much fanfare I realized that my light headedness seemed to be a thing of the past. Not sure if it was truly related to the stomach issues or not. Mindy readied the kids for a day at Grandma Sharon’s. Both were excited about that. Because I most likely wouldn’t see them until Saturday, we said our goodbye’s this morning. I left for work just a few minutes before 8:00am. I was at my desk by 8:10am. The lot was empty – almost like a weekend. My hope as that the day would be a breeze The day was bustling with activity. We were lightly staffed and had a lot of escalated issues to deal with. It kept me and my team on our toes all day. I sprung for Chipotle for the entire team since we were working so hard. One of the guys went to fetch. The chipotle was delicious and a nice change of pace from my usual lunch food. The day was busy up until 4pm or so. Things calmed slightly as the daylight withered. I moved towards heading home around 5:10pm. I was excited for the busy holiday weekend despite knowing that I’d be working through the weekend and back in the office again on Monday. I stopped at Kroger to pick-up some spiced rum, champagne, and beer. The place was packed! My next stop was Anthony-Thomas to pick-up some candy for a handful of relatives. I already called and confirmed their hours of operation. I knew that they’d be there and open. Stopping there for last minute gifts has become a tradition of sorts for going on 20 years. On my drive home a friend/co-worker phoned that he had my Wii if I was still interested. Sparing all the details, we planned pick-p arrangements for over the weekend. I knew that Mindy would be excited. At home we organized some Xmas gifts and discussed the many parties and events we’d be attending. I went to the PC after about 20 minutes only to find it down hard. Mindy mentioned that she had trouble earlier. As best I could tell, it looked/sounded like the hard drive. The BIOS indicated that it could not see the drive. CRAP! I panicked! I had never as much as opened the case although hit opens easily. I found the hard drive and took it out thinking that shaking it might be a good idea. I reset it at least ten times but the same issue. My mind was fixed on what might be lost if I can’t recover the data. Aside from the image, lots and lots of keepsake documents would be lost forever. But by far the most precious of all are my photos – some 20,000. All of those are backed up on CD’s. I have a regular habit of backing up before I delete off of my hard card. At least I’d be able to restore those. I couldn’t shake the loss. I was truly bummed! Never would it be opportune but why now, the weekend before XMAs. Plus, the more I thought about the more frustrated I became. For starters, my camera was just short of full having all of December’s photos on board. Unless I could download and back-up, I wouldn’t be able to take more Xmas picture. That was just unacceptable. Eventually, I downloaded my latest photos to my laptop and immediately burned them to CD so that I could format my hard card. All of that kept me at home much later/longer than originally intended. Mindy knew I was depressed over the dilemma and I’m sure that she wasn’t pleased with the way I was handling it. But being the loving wife that she is, she allowed me to wallow in pity for the duration of evening. We arrived at Barley’s just before 9pm. A Mean Manalishi Double IPA was just what the doctor ordered! Mindy had wine. Steve and Mark were there and allowed me to vent my frustration over my seemingly lost hard drive. Mark discussed my options and helped me to realize that I had the only truly irreplaceable files backed up – my pictures. All music, programs, and like can be retrieved via other means. Save for a few precious word documents like the letters I had written to my grand babies and was saving for their later years, Mark was correct. As the evening wore on and the beers kicked in, I began to snap out of my funk. And as time passed a few others arrived - Tommy, Rick, Rene, Bob and Carol. We wished one another a Merry Xmas. I enjoyed a plate of Gate of Hell wings. Can’t recall what Mindy enjoyed. Tommy, I know, had sauerkraut balls. We left just after 11pm. Mindy drove home although I was just as well suited to drive.